Stella's First Easter
by natabrains
Summary: The team is on a mission: Plan Easter for Stella -the Greek way. How can baking cookies change Stella's outlook on Easter and family?


A/N: For the sake of the story, I am assuming that St. Basil's Orphanage where Stella grew up was Greek Orthodox and that they celebrated at least the major holidays like Christmas and Easter.

Very slight spoilers for "Grounds for Deception", but it won't ruin anything if you haven't seen it.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not (nor will I ever) own CSI:NY.

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_**Stella's First Easter**_

New York City, April 1984

Sitting on the stair of St. Basil's orphanage 9 year-old Stella Bonasera stared out into the distance, her deep emerald eyes brimming with tears. It had been a hard day, just as it had been the years before, except today had somehow been different, more depressing. Easter was one of those times of the year that she always wished for a family, and although she had never really had one, at least _he_ had always been there for her. This year he was out of town for a lecture and she felt lonelier than ever.

The meager funding of the orphanage prevented the nuns for buying more than the absolute essentials and therefore there would be no cookies, no red colored eggs, no lamb on a spit and certainly no brightly decorated paschal candle for her or any of the other orphans. She couldn't help but envy the children whose god parents would shower them with gifts on the event: new shoes, toys, sometimes money, jewelry, but mostly she envied them for being able to celebrate in the warmth of their own home and family. The week leading to that Saturday night was one of mourning, of unity, of faith and yet little Stella felt none of those as she sat on the cold, hard steps. She felt empty and alone when her mentor, her "guardian angel" had taken her aside and quietly explained that he wouldn't be able to be with her that year.

She had felt betrayed and outraged at first, but soon accepted the inevitable. Professor Papakota had to leave town for ten days and would miss the whole Easter celebration. She wouldn't be baking cookies and sweet bread the Sunday before with his family, she wouldn't be making a mess of her clothes coloring eggs on Wednesday, she wouldn't be passing underneath the "coffin" on Friday evening and she wouldn't be standing next to him at church at midnight on Saturday when that joyous moment arrived. She would be stuck in the orphanage with the other children that had no one who cared and that stung.

Then she realized that the only reason she hurt so much is because no matter how many times the professor took her with him, she would always be alone. She would always be the orphan without a family that celebrated Easter alone because she had no one.

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New York City, April 2009

A knock on Stella's door broke her out of her reverie. She had been thinking about that Easter again, the one when she was nine years old. Wondering who it might be on a Sunday morning she opened the door to reveal none other than Mac Taylor standing in on her doorstep with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Mac?" she asked, confused. She didn't recall having made plans with him. No, they had closed their case the day before and today was their team's day off. The only day a month when the entire crew was free of the lab. "What are you doing here?"

He looked at her confused expression with amusement in his eyes and decided to tease her a bit. "You mean, what are _we_ doing here."

Now Stella was genuinely perplexed. She poked her head out the door beyond Mac's torso and into the hallway but found no one. "What do you mean by 'we' Mac? You are the only one here!"

Mac chuckled. "Am I really?"

As if on queue, seven heads appeared around the corner of the hall. If she wasn't so shocked Stella would have fallen on the floor from laughter because the sight was truly comical. From top to bottom: Flack, Jess, Sid, Sheldon, Danny, Lindsay and Adam -who was practically laying on the floor- every single member of their team was looking right back at her with identical grins on their faces. But that wasn't what was funny. The only part of their bodies that was visible to her was their head and neck; the rest of them concealed by the wall. She could only imagine how close they were all shoved in the small crevice she knew existed in the hallway.

When she finally decided that she wasn't hallucinating, she started laughing. The whole team was amazed. They had heard her laugh before, but they had never seen her laugh so freely, her bell-like giggles echoing through the hallway. It was a sound of pure merriment and joy that instantly brought them out of their hiding place, closer to its source.

Stella couldn't think of the last time she had seen something so endearing and sweet. Although she was puzzled as to the reason, she was still glad that the team had come to visit her. By the time she got control of her giggles, the team had surrounded her, offering her hugs and kisses in greeting. She invited them all inside, watching as they settled on her couches and chairs. After the flurry of movement ceased, she decided to find out what was going on. She stood at the entrance of the room and surveyed their faces, so calm and relaxed and so unlike the professional masks they hid behind at work. Finally, she spoke.

"Is anyone going to tell me what is going on? Not that I am not glad to see you all, but is there any particular reason you are all sitting in my apartment at 10 am on a Sunday morning?"

They all exchanged amused glances before looking back at her.

"Stella, what day is it today?" Mac asked.

"I just said it was Sun-"

"That's not what I meant. Why is today special?" he clarified.

Stella couldn't have been more confused. As far as she could remember that day wasn't her birthday or that of anyone else in the team, they hadn't planned anything together, there was no special occasion to celebrate, it wasn't a holiday for anyone on the team but her… That couldn't be it, could it? It was exactly one week before Greek Easter and traditionally it was they day to bake Easter cookies. Her CSI senses on high alert she went through memories of the previous week, looking for clues. She recalled a conversation with Mac about Greek traditions on Easter and then… Oh. Two days later, Lindsay had casually asked her what kind of sweets she made for Easter and then once she mentioned the cookies, Lindsay had asked for the recipe.

Stella emerged from the pool of memories instantly looking around for evidence to confirm her theory. Sure enough, Danny, Flack and Adam all had large shopping bags at their feet and she wondered how she hadn't noticed before.

"You are here to bake cookies with me?" she asked, needing to hear the confirmation before she could believe it herself.

"You bet we are!" Jess said enthusiastically.

"We jus' want'd to see whatcha do for Easter, Stell." Danny supplied.

"The recipe you gave me sounded absolutely scrumptious." Lindsay said with a smile that could light up a cave. "So…"

"So we decided we wanted to try them!" Sheldon cut in.

"Plus, if we judge from past experience of your cooking, those cookies are going to be heaven on earth." Flack said, earning appreciative nods from the group.

"Not to mention that it would be really interesting to see the differences between the ways we celebrate Easter." added Sid in a solemn voice.

Stella just stared at them in awe. She couldn't think of anything appropriate to say. After a few moments of silence, Adam timidly dared to ask.

"You-you aren't m-mad at us, are you Stella? We j-just wanted to spend some time with-with you."

The deer-in-the-headlights look that Adam had on his face brought forth Stella's response.

"Of course I am not mad at you guys! I am just a little… stunned. No one has ever done anything like this for me, so I guess you just caught me by surprise." She said as a brilliant smile made its appearance on her pretty face.

"Great! Where do we start?" Mac asked, his boss tone back in place.

"Um, I think my kitchen is too small for all of us, so the dining room will have to do. Lindsay did you make sure they got everything for the recipe?" Stella asked the younger woman as the rest of them started to clear the dining room table.

"Yes, I did. The boys have everything in their bags."

"Let's get started then!"

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Several hours later, seven very tired CSI's, two Detectives and one Medical Examiner all lounged around in Stella's living room watching _The DaVinci Code_. They had spent their day getting covered in flour, having a cookie-dough fight which resulted in the girls taking showers, cracking jokes, sharing stories and just enjoying each others company. They were impressed when all of Adam's cookies were perfectly round or symmetrical and then laughed when he reminded them of his OCD. They laughed when Danny complained of a stomach ache even though he had been warned not to eat too much dough. Stella was alarmed by the rate that the first batch out of the oven disappeared but she needn't have worried. Two giant bowls and several zip-lock bags filled with cookies lay on the kitchen counter as evidence of their labor and the team couldn't have been prouder of their work.

As the movie credits rolled down the television screen, Mac turned to Stella and asked her the question that confused her more than anything that had happened that day.

"So, what time should we come over on Wednesday?"

"Why are you coming over on Wednesday?"

Mac mock glared at her. "Didn't we go through this already? We want to celebrate Easter with you, Stella. As I recall, the next important thing we have to do is on Wednesday."

"What? I thought we were just making cookies today, not…"

"You are not getting away with it so easily, Stell." interrupted Flack.

"We are here for the whole week." Added Jess, the whole team was nodding from their respective spots on the couch.

"You really don't have to do all of this." Stella said quietly.

"We want to Stella. We want to because it is important to you and you are important to us." Said Lindsay with a warm, encouraging smile.

Stella was touched beyond words. Not only had they had all given up their day off to be with her, to celebrate a day that really meant nothing to them, but they wanted to go through the whole week's ritual. Despite that, somehow, it felt right. Sharing the traditions with the people that had become more family than friends, she came to realize that she had never truly celebrated Easter before, because she had never really had a family to share it with. With tears in her eyes, she looked at each one of their faces and whispered.

"Don't forget the eggs."

Eight dazzling smiles answered her and they all hugged her at once, her living room dissolving in a tangled mess of limbs, as the unconventional family prepared Stella for her first Easter.

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A/N: Loved it? Hated it?


End file.
